I talk with Sarah King, who’s the Manager, Academic Experiential Education at McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business. Sarah’s been leading the experiential learning strategy for the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery, a space deliberately designed around a different vision of what university education could be.

We talk about her journey to this work, what generative AI means for the assumptions higher education has long taken for granted, and why she believes the purpose of a university education goes far deeper than credentials and job readiness. 

In the episode, we reference the article, Experiential Learning as a Response to Rupture, that Sarah co-wrote with Jessica Riddell, along with Jessica's book, Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing.

Nicole Sorokin, President of MacHacks, an event run by the McMaster AI Society, talks about what really happens at hackathons and how generative AI is reshaping these spaces.

This is part one of a two-part series. Next episode I’ll be joining the hackathon and interviewing participants throughout the day to capture the experience in action.

In this follow-up episode, Jon Kruithof, the Lead Learning Technologist at the MacPherson Institute, offers an institutional perspective on D2L’s Lumi.

Jon reflects on where generative AI may offer real value, the risks institutions need to navigate, and how today’s moment echoes earlier shifts in higher education.

Jack Pinette, D2L’s Vice President of Product Strategy, joins the conversation to discuss Lumi, D2L’s AI-powered toolkit integrated into Brightspace.

Jack offers a product and design–focused perspective on generative AI in EdTech, walking through Lumi’s core capabilities and the principles guiding its development.

This episode is a recording of a recent panel I moderated in which instructors share how their conversations with students about AI have shifted over time, what’s been easy or difficult to navigate, and how students are responding.

Panelists include:

• Michael Wong, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences
• Jennifer Ma, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work
• Josh Nederveen, Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology
• Sarah Whitwell, Sessional Instructor in the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Developer with the Office of Community Engagement
• Keiwan Wind, Assistant Professor of Information Systems in the DeGroote School of Business

 Kelly Webb-Davies, Lead Business Technologist at the University of Oxford’s AI Competency Centre, draws on her experiences as a neurodivergent educator in linguistics to offers a personal and practical perspective on accessibility, linguistic justice, and generative AI in higher education.

We talk about digital translanguaging, separating idea development from academic phrasing, and rethinking classroom time to foreground process as much as product.

Have feedback or questions or want to continue the conversation? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reach out!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Articles referenced in the episode:

• AI generates covertly racist decisions about people based on their dialect
• Event Podcasting for assessment and engagement

Jutta Treviranus, Director of Inclusive Design and Professor in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University, talks about the Framework for Accessible and Equitable AI in Education, which looks at AI from the perspective of people with disabilities who stand to experience the extreme benefits and risks of AI.

If you're interested in learning about more about AI and accessibility, check out:

• IDRC’s Inclusive Artificial Intelligence Initiatives
• This collection of articles from leading educators and researchers
• Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services

Have feedback or questions or want to continue the conversation? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reach out!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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After a longer than planned hiatus, I’m excited to kick things off again with a conversation with Professor Mollie Dollinger who’s the Director of Assessment 2030 at Curtin University. 

Earlier this year Curtin University released an Assessment 2030 Strategic Planning Document, outlining their approach to reimagining assessment for the future of higher education.

Mollie and I talk about how she and her team are supporting the rollout of this framework and what she’s learned along the way. 

At the end of the episode, I share some thoughts on pieces I think need to be in place to realize the benefits of these types of frameworks.

This special episode of AI Dialogues features a recently recorded Instructor Panel at McMaster University. The panel was moderated by Ben Lee Taylor, the Academic Skills Program Coordinator with the Student Success Centre, and brings together the following panelists who engages in writing instruction and support for students:

• Dr. Jonathan Cannon, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour.
• Dr. Ayesha Khan, Associate Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior.
• Dr. Mayu Nishimura. Assistant Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour.
• Siddharth Raman, PhD candidate, Department of Philosophy; Writing Advisor, Student Success Centre.

Towards the end of the recording, I pose a question to the panel that challenges the commonly held assumption that using GenAI involves outsourcing your thinking to talk about whether these tools could potentially support the writing and thinking process.

Have feedback or questions or want to continue the conversation? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reach out!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

A transcript for this episode is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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In March 2025, the Higher Education Strategy Associates hosted the AI-Cademy conference, a Canadian AI summit for post-secondary education.

While I was at the conference, I interviewed 8 attendees to capture their perspectives on conference topics that resonated, things they'd be bringing back to their institutions, and gaps in the conversation.

Listen to insights from :

• Erin Aspenlieder, Associate Vice-Provost, Academic Quality & Teaching Innovation at Sheridan College
• Priya  Mouli, Director  of  IT  Security and Information  Security  Officer at Sheridan  College 
• Kate Bowers, Lead Learning Designer at Action Insight
• Cari Din, Associate Dean Academic in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary
• Renato Bezerra, Educational Developer at the University of Manitoba
• Jonathan Stone, Learning  Specialist at Coast  Mountain  College
• Alan Amyotte, Director  of Internal Assurance at the University of British Columbia
• Sandrine Desforges, Research Associate with the Higher Education Strategy Associates

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A transcript for this episode is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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